This application relates generally to an apparatus and method for welding metal components, and more specifically to an apparatus and method for spot welding a hybrid system comprising steel and aluminum using different welding tips avoiding cross contamination.
A problem is introduced when a weld gun is used for spot welding on a hybrid system which alternates between welding steel and aluminum materials. Such alternate welding using common welding tips can lead to undesirable cross contamination of the welding tips, greatly reducing the tip lifetimes and subsequent degradation of weld quality. Currently, the use of separate welding guns for alternating between the aluminum welding portion and the steel welding portion of the process to solve this problem is expensive due to the large number of welding guns necessary to support the welding operations, and thus is not an optimum solution.